“First of all, they won’t dare play me one-on-one, even at the tender age of 39,” O’Neal said. “And you know what? Playin’ those teams, it ain’t gonna be about the [center] matchup, so I don’t really worry about that.”

The Celtics traded away Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City at the trade deadline. Despite that swap, O’Neal said he’s not feeling any more pressure without him in the rotation.

“No, because I’ve just got to rebound and play good defense. And I can do that,” O’Neal said. “If I was getting the ball and taking all the shots, it’d be a lot of pressure at 39. But I’ve just got to rebound and play D.”